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When our friends showed us breathtaking photos from a hike they’d done, we knew we wanted to go. This would be our first foray into the wilds of Washington, and even though we didn’t have time to reach the stunning scenery of Goat Lake, we had a very good time on the upper and lower Elliot trails.

The scenery was profoundly different than what we are used to. It was much more dense and varied than the hiking trails in our home state. It seemed that every 10 minutes we entered into a different sort of forest. Cathedral-esk groves of beech, mossy stones right out of a Miyazaki film, and Endor worthy fallen trunks with giant ferns, among other fantastic settings.

The high point of our day trip (in elevation and experience) was a lovely waterfall where we sat quietly for a while appreciating our journey before we headed back.

It really was a great introduction to the natural offerings newly available to us, and has us excited about what else we’ll be able to discover and experience in our time here. And I learned about nurse logs! The fallen trees are quickly overtaken by young saplings that ultimately just wear away the host log. In the meantime they look just like a bonsai forest.

Once the nurse it all worn away an interesting root structure is left behind, as I saw on a later adventure.